The post THE COLLAPSE OF CREATIVITY AND THE RISE OF BUREAUCRATIC BUNGLING IN THE “LUCKY COUNTRY”. appeared first on How To Fly.
]]>I can be silent no longer. Complacency has taken the place of resilience in corporate Australia and in politics confirming what famous author, Donald Horne argued in 1964 when he first coined the phrase ‘The Lucky Country’ for his book title. He argued ‘Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck’. Sadly his assessment could be true at a time when great vision and leadership are desperately needed to ensure we emerge from the Covid pandemic a stronger, more united and bolder nation.
I was 24 years old when Donald Horne published ‘The Lucky Country’ and indeed it was in the 60’s, 70’s and even the eighties when Australian entrepreneurs and politicians had vision, took risks that paid off and made Australia a ‘can-do’ country. In 2019 The Australian Financial Review wrote a story based on ‘Australia, the can’t do country’ which is what we are becoming. In September 2020 Andrew Liveris told the National Press Club about ‘tectonic trends like never before’ and ‘a tsunami of digitalisation’. And today I read that Australians have lost trust in institutions, business and the media. (Edelman Trust Barometer). I had my 80th birthday last year and I am worried.
The forced lockdowns have forced us all to suffer the agonising experiences of politicians dominating the news with Covid forecasts and promises that rarely come true. Watching television with non-stop football, left wing bias on the ABC, and the incredibly bad advertising from some of our biggest brands has motivated me to remind everyone that we are still the lucky country but Covid blame games, bureaucratic bungling and poor leadership are taking their toll on our communities and economy.
I am thrilled every time I read about the successes of Atlassian, Canva, Afterpay and other local start-ups but I am quickly depressed listening to our politicians and the boring meaningless advertising from some of our biggest companies and brands. Clearly, creativity has collapsed and meaningless motherhood statements deliver only the status quo to appease nervous non risk taking CEO’s and boards.
Maybe it’s time to rediscover the power of the jingle?
Talking with advertising jingle legend Mike Brady last week was a relief as we relived our glorious days working together in Adland in the seventies when most clients and agencies aspired to be the biggest and the best at what they did. Mike is best known for his ‘Up there Cazely’ AFL anthem but few know he created three of my most successful brand campaigns with his brilliantly composed jingles. In 1974 he created the Bob Jane T Marts jingle for me but sadly when I moved on from Bob after opening 89 outlets they deleted the then famous Bob Jane, ‘da-da-da’ T Marts from the jingle to rob it of its infectious and memorable melody. The new version of the jingle still drives sales for Bob Jane T Marts today even though Mike wrote it almost 50 years ago. In 1975 I created SPC Baked Beans and Spaghetti and Mike excelled once again. He put my line ‘For hungry little human beans’ to music and it helped SPC become #2 brand nationally in 6 months. Next came Monbulk Jam. SPC bought our creative concept ‘The fruit you see is the fruit you get’ and Mike put it to music. Research told us that people in another room knew it was the Monbulk jam commercial when they heard it. (Mike reminded me we only paid him $400 for it.)
I first realised the power of the jingle when I launched Sorbent toilet tissue in 1963 with a jingle ‘What’s the gentlest tissue…’ created by Maurice Kay. So why don’t we see the top ad agencies creating jingles anymore? Why don’t clients demand bold creativity anymore? Where are the ‘creative hot shops’ of the seventies and eighties? Why do we see so much thoughtless, uninspiring, meaningless and forgettable advertising in this highly digitalised era?
The breathtaking blandness of today’s television advertising is there for everyone to see every day. But how much impacts and stimulates purchase or brand preference? Who is responsible for this trash? The client or the agency? My view is you can’t blame the agency. Increasingly today the decisions are made by the boards, the bureaucrats and probably focus groups. The ‘hot’ agencies have disappeared into the bowels of corporate and accounting company house agencies or into digital outfits who walk to a different drum. Perhaps this explains why AGL proudly uses ‘Progress in life’ to win customers. BUPA obviously thinks “Because life happens’ will give them a competitive edge and NAB’s ‘More than money’ is hard to figure out. (Perhaps that’s why they just changed agencies? ) And the best of the bland brand lines has to be Coles who recently boasted their rapid transformation journey based on ‘Coles, Value the Australian Way’. I am a Coles customer and wish they would invest money in shrinking the customer queues. Meanwhile Woolies is teaching them a lesson in retailing and winning online and instore. (Choice.com.au/May 2021). Not forgetting ALDI who get top marks for creative ingenuity with their customer and campaign strategies..
Will the new Telstra campaign ‘Australia is Why’ campaign boost new customers and ROI? I doubt it. My recent bad experiences with Telstra suggests they have lost their way – culturally and commercially. Then comes the Western Star TV ad proudly proclaiming ‘More than butter’? Please explain. While I shudder to think of the money wasted I know that clients are mostly to blame. Not always the agency who may have pitched great ideas but had them rejected. I know from experience that great clients get great advertising. Nothing has changed in 50 years here.
Yes, Covid has had a massive impact and experienced global observers like Andrew Liveris warns “Australia must develop a new model of leadership to fit the demands of this century. Australia must move to a new rule book and a new paradigm.” And in 2019 Janet Albrechtsen wrote in The Australian “Australians have sunk to a level of complacency not seen before.” Based on what I have seen and heard in lockdown it seems nobody in politics or corporate Australia is listening.
Mike and I believe the entrepreneurial spirit that pervaded Australia in our early days has vanished and the zero risk taking bureaucracy has taken control in political parties and corporate Australia.
Looking back there were many great jingles. “Come on Aussie, Come on” is hard to beat and ‘Aussie kids are Weetbix kids’ has stood the test of time successfully. The client has had the good sense to keep it. Then there is one of the great lines “Lucky your with AAMI’ which happens to be another one of Mike’s . AAMI have kept the great line but almost buried the jingle. ‘Flickman, that’s the answer’, ‘Louie the fly’ and Carpet Call, ‘The experts in the trade’ also deserve a mention for remaining current for decades. Some ads on air today that give me a glimmer of hope that some-one is trying hard to revive creativity include: Terri Scheer (‘I wouldn’t trust anyone else…’), Lilydale chickens, ‘Dedication you can trust’, PINOCLEAN ‘It’s not clean unless it’s Pinoclean’. A priceless, ageless proposition.
So what about the proven power of the jingle? Imagine what would have happened if the government had briefed Mike Brady to do a Covid jingle?
We already see and hear each year the 90,000+ people at the MCG knowing and singing every word of the jingle with great gusto. Imagine the impact on 20 million people if Mike had created a Covid vaccination jingle with his proven skills of winning over customers with his words and melodies. Now imagine what the $40m government campaign has done to influence the outcome of Covid. Almost zero. Probably the worst campaign I have seen in my sixty years in the marketing and advertising business. This is a classic case of bureaucratic bungling and the collapse of creativity because I bet there was no clearly defined strategy.
If you are having similar problems to the many governments and bureaucrats trying to develop effective strategies and inspiring creative to win public opinion for your company and brand then please contact me to discuss possibilities. If the challenge is the right one Mike might also be interested to help you create big brands with small budgets and creative ingenuity.
Simply email me at austin@howtofly.com.au and check out my website www.howtofly.com.au
Austin is the Author of HOW TO FLY- Leadership Lessons from Legends.
He shares the leadership lessons he learned working with twenty of Australia’s top business leaders and entrepreneurs including Kerry Packer, Bob Jane and Christopher Skase.
Austin has created or transformed over 200 companies and brands in his career and the agencies he has owned or managed won most of the industry creative awards in the 70’s & 80’s.
The post THE COLLAPSE OF CREATIVITY AND THE RISE OF BUREAUCRATIC BUNGLING IN THE “LUCKY COUNTRY”. appeared first on How To Fly.
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“Australians have sunk to a new level of complacency not seen before.”
“There are warning signs, to be sure. Wages are stagnant and productivity has been flat. Young people find it hard to break into the big city housing markets and there is rising underemployment too. But it seems few people look at horizons and see dark clouds. No world wars for more than two generations, no depressions for even longer. The upshot of all this good fortune is that Australians have sunk to a level of complacency not seen before.” Janet Albrechtsen, The Australian 2019.
Being locked-in at home in Melbourne for the past months has forced me to witness the ever present high level of complacency that seems to be accelerating at an alarming pace locally and globally and threatening our existence. It seems no one of any importance is listening to the warnings from outstanding leaders like David Attenborough and Andrew Liveris (Chairman/CEO Dow Chemical Co and Director IBM) .
Recently, I watched Andrew Liveris tell the National Press Club luncheon in Canberra that Australia needs a new model of leadership that fits the demands of this century and David Attenborough wondered why our local and global leaders are not listening and acting on the climate change evidence because tomorrow is too late to save the world. My confidence in the future took another blow when I watched the Trump/Biden press conference. Inspirational leadership was nowhere to be seen or heard in the chaos. Trump has failed to make America great again! (Good strategy – Poor leadership/implementation in my view.)
I have just finished writing my first book on leadership so I am familiar with the subject. My book is called ‘How to Fly’ and I share the leadership lessons I learned working with 20 of Australia’s top entrepreneurs and business leaders over my 60 year career. I learned the power of silence from Kerry Packer, Christopher Skase taught me how to be audacious, Robert Gottliebsen demonstrated that resilience was imperative and Bob Jane proved that making your vision a reality can become a reality.
When it comes to complacency this is one attribute that my great mate Dennis Merchant did not possess. Dennis changed the media landscape when he took on the media giants and multinational agencies and pioneered the independent media buying agency. (Harold Mitchell takes credit for this but he had nothing to do with it. I should know. I talked Harold into going independent, gave him rent free in my offices, two months fees in advance and introduced him to my clients and to Dennis. Big mistake). My book reveals the true story of how Harold Mitchell got his start and why the story he tells in his book ‘Living Large’ is not true.
Perhaps the most important lesson I learned working with the twenty leaders and entrepreneurs was the importance of humility in great leadership. I first encountered this with Saul Same (GloWeave) and discovered that this powerful attribute was evident, but often hidden from view by many of the leaders I worked with. Humility is linked to quiet achievers who get the job done without fanfare or self-praise. The lifetime achievements of Saul Same, Tony Schiavello, Craig Sinclair and Garry Emery are to be admired because I don’t think they had ever heard of the word complacency.
Prepare to be inspired and motivated. Find out how to be a Leader, not a loser.
The demand for leaders will soar in the post Covid19 economy and I share the personal stories of my working relationships with 20 of Australia’s top business leaders and entrepreneurs and how I discovered the importance of self-efficacy and how archetypes can provide guidelines for leaders to identify with.
There has never been a better time to become an entrepreneur and wealth creator as Covid19 changes almost everything.
Andrew Liveris could not be called a fan of complacency. His global achievements at Dow Chemical and his recent speech inspired me to re-galvanise my personal action plan to eliminate any hint of complacency and begin my mission to help Australia become a ‘can-do’ country once again with twenty leadership lessons from Australian legends in my book ‘How to Fly’.
You can reserve your copy now by registering your details at www.howtofly.com.au. Read it and you will never become a member of the Complacency Club and never be average, overlooked or live a lifetime in poverty if you practice the leadership lessons I have learned.
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